site.btaGERB Pessimistic About Grand Coalition after Four Hours of Talks with Socialists

107 POLITICS-CONSULTATIONS-GERB-SOCIALISTS amplified2

GERB Pessimistic About Grand Coalition after
Four Hours of Talks
with Socialists


Sofia, October 13 (BTA) - After some four hours of talks here
Monday with the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), GERB, the
party which won the most votes at the October 5 snap elections
but not enough seats in Parliament to have a stable government,
emerged pessimistic about the likelihood of a grand coalition
and a GERB government with Socialist support.

"The differences remain and some are on the two opposite poles.
It will be difficult to continue the talks [with the Socialists]
unless BSP declare in writing the areas where they are ready to
make concessions," said Roumyana Buchvarova of GERB. She was
speaking at a news conference the two negotiating teams held
jointly after the talks: herself, Tsetska Tsacheva and Menda
Stoyanova for GERB, and Yanaki Stoilov, Atanas Merdjanov and
Zahari Georgiev for BSP.

The Monday talks GERB held with BSP - the runner-up in the
elections - were the first of series of negotiations with the
parties to be represented in the next Parliament, which GERB has
scheduled for this week.

The two sides agreed that the new government should have its
full time horizon of four years before it, effectively rejecting
a proposal by the Right-wing Reformist Bloc for a government
with a lifespan of two years.

Yanakai Stoilov said that the format of a government of shared
responsibility with the participation of political figures
proposed by GERB leader Boyko Borissov, is the right format
considering the results from the elections. "It should be a
political government with clear political support and
priorities. There should be no time limit or guaranteed mandate,
as is proposed by GERB," Stoilov said.

He said the Socialists believe that new elections will not solve
the political crisis in Bulgaria.

Tsetska Tsacheva of GERB expressed surprise at how unbending BSP
have been about what they call "12 red lines".

Yanaki Stoilov said that "the red lines" are not dividing lines:
"there are points of intersection which reflect the real needs
of the country". "They do not seek to divide the parties."

He added though that BSP's three-strong negotiating team had a
mandate not to step back from the 12 red lines.

It transpired at the joint news conference after the talks that
GERB and BSP share identical positions on four out of 18
national priorities from the to-do list of GERB:
persistent Euro-Atlantic orientation of Bulgaria and sticking to
the commitments it has made under international accords;
improving the business environment and encouraging investors;
joining the European banking union and creating a single energy
union; and restoring the confidence of the European Commission
in Bulgaria and resumption of EU-supported programmes.

The areas where GERB and BSP disagreed included financial and
tax policy (GERB want the flat tax to remain while the
Socialists are in favour of progressive taxation), and the
energy sector, including the abandoned Belene N-plant
construction project and the price of electricity.

GERB scrapped the Belene project and BSP believe that it should
be resurrected.

GERB are supportive of the increase of electricity prices as one
of the steps towards solving the problems in the enenergy
sector while BSP want to see a balanced energy market but are
against higher electricity prices.

In Stoyanova's words, the two parties agree in principle on two
issues - the troubled Corpbank and the infrastructure projects -
but disagree on the details.

The Socialists argue that the Corpbank crisis needs to be
addressed as a matter of priority and that the guaranteed
deposits should be paid out immediately - for which purpose the
State needs to have access to all of the bank's assets. GERB
insists that the central bank should hire an international
consultant to analyse the situation at Corpbank and propose
solutions where the price to be paid by the government and
taxpayers is clearly set out.

Furthermore, the Left want the whole managing board of the
central bank replaced after Parliament adopts legislative
revisions. They do not support a national budget update prepared
by the caretaker government.

The talks highlighted the differences between two political
forces in the security and area, especially as regards the
structure and powers of the State Agency for National Security
and the Organized Crime service (which GERB plans to remove from
the Security Agency and return to the Interior Ministry, thus
undoing a decision by the previous government).

BSP's Yanaki Stoilov said that the country is faced with
national security risks and a risk from Islamic fundamentalists,
and need a balanced foreign policy rather than the one pursued
by President Rosen Plevneliev and the caretaker government.

He also said that Bulgaria cannot afford rearmament right now
and that the plans for modernization of the army need to be
aligned with the Socialists' plan for reindustrialization with
the government playing a leading role.

The reform in education and health care, the pension reform, and
the policy on incomes and pensions also remained outside the
scope of the agreement between the two parties.

GERB's Tsacheva voiced satisfaction with the way the talks went
and called them "profound and well-grounded".

"For the first time in the new political history of Bulgaria,
the party which has won elections offers all other parliamentary
parties a round of consultations," she said adding that they do
this with the full awareness of their responsibility to form a
government.

GERB will have 84 seats in the 240-seat legislature and will be
the first party to get an exploratory mandate to form a
government.

Yanaki Stoilov shared GERB's assessment about the talks being
constructive and frank.

He said that Bulgaria needs political, financial and social
stability "and anyone who overlooks the importance of these is
faced with the risk of solving none of the existing problems".
He also added that "it takes a just and responsible government
to solve the problems".

GERB did not offer any ministerial offices to the Socialists at
the Monday talks, said Tsacheva. Atanas Merdjanov confirmed that
the two sides did not discuss government posts "other than the
right of the biggest political force to name a Prime Minister
and Parliament Chair". He said, though, that, depending on the
outcome of the talks, his party, too, may put forward its
candidates.

BSP leader: A moderate optimist about government formation soon

Speaking to the press in the Northwestern town of Vidin, BSP
leader Mihail Mikov said he was "moderately optimistic" about
seeing a government formed any time soon. He explained that his
optimism was based on the fact that there are "enough Right-wing
political formations which can form a majority [in Parliament]
and a government."

Reiterating his election-night remarks, he said that the ballots
sent his party in opposition.

He said that the narrow and the wider BSP leadership are going
to discuss the Monday talks with GERB on Tuesday. PK/LN/LY/